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For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

MaxScholar - TOS Review

Reading and reading comprehension are two skills that every parent want their kids to master. As homeschooling parent we stress over these and are always looking for ways to improve them. If you are one of those parents, or actually in need of a program to help you in this, well, I have a product for you to check out.

Max Schoolar is an online reading program geared towards kids K-12. Specifically developed to help students who have Dyslexia, learning disabilities, ADHD, processing problems, or are just struggling to read, MaxScholar delivers way more than it promises. It is made up of multi-sensory exercices and games that keep your children engaged and learning, all the while improving their reading and reading comprehension skills.

The crew got the option of reviewing their K-2 program, or the total package offered in the MaxGuru program. I opted for the whole package. I had both my sons (grade 5 and 7) use it on a daily basis. They both read very well and have a comprehension level above their levels, but I wanted to test that and improve it even further. What attracted me to the program was all the add-ons they offer along the reading program itself.

With MaxGuru you get:

MaxPhonics (where you learn the basics of reading using the Orton-Gullingham method)

MaxReading (where you learn effective comprehension strategies based on the Lindamood-Bell process)

MaxWords (where you learn about spelling, prefixes, suffixes, and Latin and Greek roots)

MaxVocab (where you get to play games on new words you are learning)

MaxBio (your portal to biographies of famous people)

MaxMusic (your portal to famous, popular song' lyrics, and where you can learn how to play them)

MaxPlaces (your portal to discovering the word through reading about places all over the globe)

My boys loved using MaxScholar. They focused mainly, though, on the Max Reading and Max Word.

MaxReading's focus is on teaching reading comprehension. The way they do it is through stories which they have you read and then find the main and secondary ideas, through a process of highlighting, outlining and summarizing. Then they follow it with a set of comprehension questions and optional games, among which is the well-known hangman game. At the beginning it is a bit difficult to understand what they expect you to highlight, but as you keep going, you get a sense of what you are supposed to do.

MaxWord is very rich in content. it covers:

Spelling

Prefixes and Suffixes

Latin Roots

Greek Roots

I had them do the prefixes, suffixes, and roots sections. These sections are set up pretty much in the same way. First they go through the roots or the prefixes, or suffixes and their meaning, with a voice reading them for you. Then you do a series of exercises that include a mix of fill in the blank and matching exercises in which you use your newly acquired knowledge to use words in their appropriate context. At the end of each set of exercises you get a grade that let's you know how you did overall and in each activity.

What we like about this program:

Interactive

Independent

Exhaustive

Easy to use and navigate

Colourful

Diversity of exercices

The voice over is quite enjoyable

That said, there were a couple of things that could be improved on, and that one of my sons thought would have made it an even better program. You never find out what the correct answers for your mistakes are, and there is no option to have the instructions repeated to you.

MaxScholor is a really innovative, cool program that can be a great addition to any homeschool. Review products rarely get a voluntary rating from my kids, but MaxScholar got a "This is awesome" from one of my sons. This definitely get two-thumbs up from our household. Check them out on their social Media: